


Where Life Defies The Sun (15 Years Prior)

by FactorialRabbits



Series: Riding The Wind - A Rune Factory AU [1]
Category: Rune Factory 4, 天官赐福 - 墨香铜臭 | Tiān Guān Cì Fú - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù, 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Injured children, Magically Handwaved Healing, Serious Injuries, but you'll likely enjoy it more with investment in the characters, no knowledge of any of these fandoms required its au enough for that, no knowledge of rf4 required its more just flavouring here, the summary is the whole fic, xie lian and hua cheng married already i don't make the rules
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-19
Updated: 2020-05-19
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:09:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24277141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FactorialRabbits/pseuds/FactorialRabbits
Summary: While cleaning up the spiritual derbies left over from the Wen Empire's destruction of Qinghe, Xie Lian and Hua Cheng stumble across the last heirs of the conquered kingdom.
Series: Riding The Wind - A Rune Factory AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1752499
Kudos: 16





	Where Life Defies The Sun (15 Years Prior)

**Author's Note:**

> I'm still getting to grips with Xie Lian and Hua Cheng, but an attempt was made.
> 
> This is a part of a much larger AU, may or may not make sense without context, but the main plot fic is looking at over 10,000 words a chapter and is really slow going just as there's so much of it. It is lighter than any canon, so more untamed though it takes bits from mdzs itself, and heavily focused towards such. Basically the tgcf is a handful of characters chilling about, and while 2/3 of the ones with plot importance retain (most) of their canons (ie everything except the Beefleaf arc), all the important parts get explained later.  
> The only bit of rf4 here really is the reference to Selphia, a city where the wind god lives.  
> This is the backstory for how Nie Mingjue and Nie Huaisang came to Selphia and ended up working in Ore Galore, the local smithy. While they have more backstory, that's explored in the main plot when/if I finish it.
> 
> Now I've got one bit written, however, I may make a start on tidying up and publishing pictures and setting notes too. I just... don't want to without any context, you know? ^^ This idea has been in my head... A long time. 
> 
> And, um, warning: while I have tried to do my research, I am a white person writing a fic using characters from two deeply Chinese-rooted fandoms, in a setting based on a JRPG that is set in a pseudo-European fantacy/steampunk if that were 1600s world. If I do something heinously or offensively wrong please let me know, otherwise I apologise please bare with. Or close it. Like that is always an option for you.  
> This... This entire AU honestly exists for 2 reasons: a) I was playing it and went 'you know, I think Wei Wuxian would really enjoy being an amnesiac farmer with poorly explained magical powers that kills monsters in his free time and accidentally saves the world' and b) 'huh Arthur can very easily be Jin Guangyao except he's always been recognised and didn't fall into the evil pit. Neat'.  
> The plot and setting history then fell far, far off the rails.

It had been a week since the King of Qinghe was killed, and the castle in which his family made their home burnt and collapsed around his family. The fighting had been bloody, the destruction had left no knows survivors, and their methods for turning the castle to rubble had left the entire area thickly tainted. Not even the Immortal Emperor had considered it worth his time to cleanse the area, merely moving further on in his conquests.

What a pretender and what a god called relevant were, however, significantly different; heaven had deemed it a significant enough threat to intervene and, to Xie Lian's delight, Hua Cheng had had exactly the same thought. While not a typical date, every opportunity to spend time away from their respective realms - and together none the less - San Lang had a tendency to call one.

This, however... Neither of them could find delight as the cleansed the welling chaos of resentment and fractured ghosts and innocent dead. They were quiet but for the incantations of their work, the ruined keep around them have profound, depressing, different effects on each of them. In times like this Xie Lian could not help but remember his homeland first of all, and a hundred other things after.

At least now he could help bring peace to the souls left behind, could soothe and banish and help the world heal for another day.

He was not certain what his San Lang thought of, but it was equally grim; at least they could work without disturbing the rubble and the bodies in their tomb, both powerful enough to simply find and force on the young spirits here. It would have been easier had they come sooner, but... The Immortal Emperor had taken this long to move far enough away he could not come by while they worked, and, while Xie Lian would quite like to give him a few pieces of his mind, San Lang was unwilling to let him within thinking range of a man with an earnt reputation for the killing - and consuming - of gods.

Xie Lian understood, he really did, but that did not mean he wanted revenge any less.

They worked as one, the motions familiar and nothing really seeking to injure them. It was not that anything here was dangerous, just that it had the potential to become that way; with Jun Wu gone for so very long, heaven was (slightly) more proactive than it had been in the past.

Slightly, only slightly, but heaven would always be on the back foot. It almost seemed to enjoy it, to his eternal despair; Heaven should be responsive, should help where it could, but short of purging the ranks... And Xie Lian was never going to do that, no matter how often San Lang offered, and so he could only lead by example.

Side by side when they were not hand in hand, the two of them worked. It was long and hard, and left little room for chatting - that would, as always, come later. Get the work over, then find a nice little village somewhere out of the way, and settle for tea and cakes and maybe a night at the inn away from both of their duties. Maybe two. No, no not two, heaven would likely implode if he left it unattended for two whole nights. So one night, but he could trust San Lang to make it a wonderful one. And a warm bath! The delightful luxury of a warmed and scented bath...

As he climbed up onto the highest pile of rubble, Xie Lian's ears picked up. He had heard... something? Something small, though he could not quite identify it straight away, too distorted as it was. Small, but loud enough to draw him from his daydreams; San Lang gazed at him with concern. Oops. With a wave of his hand he dismissed that concern, yet he lifted the other and asked Ruoye to unwind. He ignored it as he listened harder, just as he ignored San Lang's hand reaching for E-Ming.

It came from... beneath the rubble? It was distorted - somewhat deep, then. It had already been a week since the palace burnt; any option as to what the sound might be was awful in different ways. And yet the sound seemed... human. Uncomfortably human. Surely, surely there could not still be- The sound was crying. The crying if a human child. Xie Lian cared for no other thoughts, quickly pinpointing the location of the crying and rushing over. He clawed at the rubble himself, pulling it aside at the cost of tearing the skin on his hands. It was unlikely that the child were alive, but possible; he could not waste time, not even to shift into a mortal appearing form. If the child were still alive, as it almost sounded, then they would need immediate medical attention. If they were dead, as was more likely... The idea of a ghost child, trapped with the bodies of themself and their family was truly horrifying. The mortal child, too, but at least a living child could not see in the dark.

Probably.

"Gege?" San Lang asked. Xie Lian continued to dig; a moment later, San Lang seemed to realise what the sound was. He squinted at the rubble for a bit, before moving over to help. "While there's a lot of resentment, there are no ghosts powerful enough to cry."

The confirmation only made the work more urgent. Xie Lian moved as quickly as he could, using a little of his power to ensure that none of the rubble slipped or fell back in place. Beside him, Hua Cheng frowned at the state of his hands. He grabbed Xie Lian's hands, stopping the work for an infuriating moment, and forced them into thick work gloves. Xie Lian was certain that he would be fussed over and have the skin bound later, but for now merely thanked him with a kiss on the cheek and returned to work.

Between the two of them, they quickly found the source of the noise. A little way down, they found two children huddled together under the table. Their clothing was fine, if blood-soaked and coated in sweat and dust. They were both quite clearly related, brothers most likely, with the elder one wrapped around the younger and shielding him from the outside. It was the younger brother who was crying, small and frail and looking even more so for the fact his face was hidden in his brother's robe. He was maybe five years old, and the effort of crying was making his entire body tremble with exhaustion. The elder... The elder brother was likely about ten years old, his back cut open where some of the rubble had slipped against them. He was breathing, but that was the only visual cue that separated him from a corpse.

Xie Lian moved forward to move the table, that he could safely extract the siblings from their nearly-grave; the smaller child's face shifted, and turned to look at him. Seeing the fear in the boy's eyes, Xie Lian finally remembered to shift to a mortal form; San Lang did not bother to do so at all. As he did, he poked a little spiritual energy towards them; not enough to heal anything significant, but hopefully enough to sustain them a little longer. How long had it been since the invasion? Xie Lian was not entirely certain, but to be without food and water so long, and so young...

Two round, exhausted eyes latched onto his, before filling with fear.

"Dage!" The little one managed to stop his sobs long enough to cry out for his brother, shaking the other boy's arm to no response. "Dage! They're here! Dage! Dage! Wake up!"

Xie Lian's heart twisted, to be the cause of such fear. He stilled, moving to crouch in front of the boy and showed him his empty hands.

"Little one," he tried to soothe the boy, even as Hua Cheng stood protectively - threateningly - over his shoulder. "We're not... I'm Xie Lian, and this is Hua Cheng, my... friend. We will not hurt you; we're here to help. I promise."

The child had already seen him in godly form, so saying their actual names was probably no more trouble. If Xie Lian were lucky, the boy would be too young to remember this for long. He was not, but maybe San Lang's would rub off.

He was stared down for a few moments, before the boy nodded quickly and hid hid face back in his elder brother's stained shirt.

"Thank you," Xie Lian spoke as gently as he could, as San Lang removed the table from above them.

The child turned even further away, hiding his eyes from the now unfamiliar sunlight. Xie Lian hummed quietly as he tried to decide what to do. It was quiet clear that both children desperately needed help, mortal that they were, but how to do it... The boy was still curled up, hiding, but a watchful eye peeked towards him.

In the end, he settled on trust first. He took the water skin from his belt, thanked his earlier self for refilling it, then offered it towards the younger boy, "here. Its just water."

The boys moved to snatch it, before putting his hands down and looking at his brother. For anyone the restrain in the situation is absurd, but for a child to do so...

"Help Dage first," the child whispered, and Xie Lian's heart shattered once more.

He looked to San Lang, who nodded and crouched down as well, "let Gege look after you. I'll look after your brother."

True to his word, San Lang moved around to beside the two brothers. Making his actions clear to the other child, he began to examine the scratches across his back.

"See, San Lang will make it better," Xie Lian smiled at the boy, trying not to show any doubt in if the older child could be saved. "He's very good at that - he makes me better all of the time! Can I move you? So San Lang has space?"

"..." the boy eyed him once again, then his brother. "Okay..."

With permission granted, Xie Lian shifted about. Once he was at the other side he gathered the smaller boy into his arms, a surprisingly difficult task given the strength of his brother's arms, then climbed out of the hole in the rubble. He moved them a safe distance away, to somewhere where the floor was not likely to collapse, and then sat down. Satisfied, he helped the boy sit up on his lap, leaning his entire, small weight against himself. He pressed the waterskin into his hands, but was not entirely surprised when the boy does nothing with it, instead just looking in the direction of his brother.

He cannot be seen from their angle, down on the burnt road leading towards the palace, at least not yet. Before Xie Lian had managed to convince himself to order the child to drink, for his own good of course, San Lang appeared, the elder child in arm. He carried him down to the floor level, before carefully laying him out. Xie Lian can see the bandages across his back, and the frown on San Lang's lips. However, the question he asked was answered by his beloved crouching down, and dripping water into the older boy's mouth. Xie Lian's heartache eased a little, and he turned to the child on his lap, "see? Your brother has water now; you should have some too."

Either the words or the sight of his brother clearly being looked after finally broke through the boy's defences; he tried to lift the water to his lips, only to be too weak to manage it. Xie Lian offered him gentle but meaningless words of comfort as he used the arm not supporting the body to help him raise the water to his lips. He drank as quickly as Xie Lian would allow him too - clearly not as fast as he would like, but as fast as was safe for a mortal who had not drunk in some time - and then managed to eat the fruit Xie Lian managed to find in his pocket.

"Well done," Xie Lian smiled softly to the boy. "You're very brave, little one. San Lang and I will help you now."

He nodded, turning his face to hide it against Xie Lian's robes instead. Xie Lian ran his hand through his hair as he began to cry, and continued to do so as he cried himself to sleep. Now that he was asleep, Xie Lian checked him over for other injuries. There were a few, but nothing truly serious; as he had begun to suspect, the elder brother seemed to have shielded him from the pain. Xie Lian tucked the boy closer, curling his arms protectively around him and rocking him slightly as he slept. Such a young boy, with nothing left. He is not a victim in the same way as the Earthmaster or his parents, but one none the same. And... And to help these boys, it is something. Something practical he can do against the nightmare which is ever encroaching.

"Gege?" San Lang interrupted his thoughts, now standing close and holding the other boy in his arms. "Shall I finish the cleaning?"

It... was why they came, was it now? Xie Lian nodded, and shifted the younger boy so that he was laying down, using one of his knees as a pillow. He then reached up, taking the other boy and resting him on his other knee, "thank you, San Lang."

"Gege does not need to thank me," San Lang smiled to him, though it was a sad one, before wandering off to finish securing the area.

Keeping half an eye on the younger child, Xie Lian turned his attention to the elder one. He was not, and had never been, a healing god, but Xie Lian has spent enough years alone, on the battlefield, or around the sick to know a few things. As he suspected the elder brother's injuries were multiple, and more severe. He tended to them as best he could, Ruoye hovering about only to cover them as a blanket would as soon as he gestured that it could. A hand on each forehead, he closely monitored their condition, and was relieved when both remained... Unwell, but currently out of danger. Though they slept he hummed to them, for

Eventually, San Lang returned. His husband took up a seat opposite him, eyeing the children. He remained in silence, seemingly deep in thought.

"The princes, then," he finally said.

Xie Lian nodded, with a sigh. Nothing else quite made sense; they were dressed in finery, clearly of Qinghe not Qishan. And, while he had been dead for many years, the Nies of Qishan still carried the remains of the Earthmaster's blessing. While somebody else might have survived so long in the stone rubble... The blessing would have greatly increased their chances. They were the right age, and the little he could see of them matched what he knew. It... provided a complication. Usually when they found people in distress they would merely take them to the closest kindly villager, but the crown and second princes of an occupied kingdom... They couldn't keep them, of course; San Lang and he had tried in the past, but between their natures and duties caring for humans long term was not really possible. Xie Lian racked his brain for ideas... Oh! Shi Qingxuan's villagers were starting to get old, and they never seemed to have enough children for everyone who wanted them. Surely someone... The blacksmith wanted an apprentice or two, did he not?

San Lang seemed to have had the same thought, for as soon as Xie Lian opened his mouth to suggest it, his face lit up, "Gege? Does one of Divine Windmaster's people want them? That village is so warded not even its own kingdom causes it problems."

"San Lang is very clever," Xie Lian complimented him, knowing just how it would make his husband blush and preen. "I seem to remember the blacksmith asking me if I'd seen any likely apprentices in my wanderings last time I visited... We could suggest it to him, and if he doesn't want them... Well, Qingxuan will find something for them to do."

Xie Lian had always made a point of, in his disguise as a scrap collector of course, wander by the Divine Windmaster's home. Now that their brother was dead, and they had fled not just their main temple but the entirety of Gusu for safety, he made a point of stopping by more often. San Lang even did too, though Xie Lian suspected it was his husband looking for him, not having any concern for the Divine Windmaster. Now they lived in a much smaller temple in the lands that had once been their brother's responsibility, around which Shi Wudu had left some of the most complex wards Xie Lian had seen. Not the most, but up there.

"Gege is more clever," San Lang smiled back, before shifting to the mortal form he usually used for visits and settling a broken door up to stand against a tree. "But we should take them while they're asleep."

"To Selphia, then?" Xie Lian sighed, then smiled a little. While they would obviously have far more important concerns, their inn and the staff were pleasant enough. Once they had seen the children to safety, they could still enjoy their evening.

... Or not; Xie Lian knew himself a little better than he once did, and he knew he would not leave their sides until he had to.

"As Gege commands," San Lang flipped his dice with one hand, and pushed open the door with the other.

A sleeping child in each arm, Xie Lian stepped through.

**Author's Note:**

> I am considering a second chapter, from Nie Huaisang's PoV and maybe in flashback, but for now it is done.
> 
> Oh! Also its nearly tomorrow; happy birthday NHS for then I guess this can count as me having done a writing thing xD


End file.
